The Criminal Justice System in the United States

The criminal justice system in the United State has traditionally operated under two fundamentally different theories. One theory is the Crime Control Model. This theory is characterized by the idea that criminal should be aggressively pursued and crime aggressively punished. The other theory is the Due process Model. This theory is characterized by the idea that the rights of the accused need to be carefully protected in any criminal justice investigation.

The Due Process Model emphasizes the adversary system. The Due Process model also puts on emphasis on the rights of the person or people who are being accused of a crime. The Due Process model consists of many factors but a few are the idea of aggressive police enforcement, equitable and fair-minded judicial process, and imposition of proper and reasonable punishment. The main idea encompassing the model of Due Process is to make sure that people who are innocent are not being wrongly convicted or targeted. They also believe that policing within the criminal justice system is essential to maintaining justice within society. Crime control and due process are two different ideal types of criminal justice. One could say they are extremes on a continuum. The role of crime control is to get the criminal off the street